All posts for the month February, 2012

Hey everyone! My awesome friend Jenn Bentz came over again last week, and took some more pics of my cards, and I finally had some time to upload a few new items to my Etsy store!

Here are a few samples of the cards I listed:

Please go check them out, and let me know what you think! There are a few other items not shown here, and a few things left over from Valentine’s Day, if you want to get a start on next year. :P And, if you’re so inclined, “like” The Crafty Raven on Facebook! You can stay informed about new items in my store, and new posts here on my blog. Please pass the word along!

I also got a new stamp set yesterday, and I can’t wait to use it! And I received a 30% off coupon for a local paper crafting shop, so I’m hoping to pick out something neat tomorrow. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Okay, I can’t help but use song lyrics some times for my post titles. I apologize in advance if you hate that song, and now wish you never read my blog so that it wouldn’t be stuck in your head. (It hasn’t really been stuck in my head, but it did pop up on my Spotify radio station the other day…)

Anyhow, Happy Valentine’s Day! I have a lot of friends who either hate this holiday, or are totally blase about it. And I get that. I’m not overly fond of the explosion of Pepto that happens to every place I go to either. However, I do love love, and I do love showing my friends and family how much I love them, and how much they mean to me. No, love shouldn’t only be expressed once a year, but I think it’s nice that there’s a day made to remind us to make sure we are showing our love, which is a sentiment my good (and very crafty) friend Dana shares. Please check out her recent post of Valentine’s ideas! And meet her pug, Popcorn, who is the snarfulliest pug ever. (To snarffle: something only a pug knows how to do best.)

Speaking of Valentine’s ideas, I really want to make this cake!

How COOL is that? I am inspired! I didn’t have time to make it this year, but next year… Or maybe for someones birthday. :) That’d be a nice surprise.

I found this awesome tutorial, by way of Amy Locutro, who is the creator of LivingLocurto, while she was blogging about Pinterest, and why we should (as creative bloggers) protect our images and ideas as well as we can. Very interesting reads, if your interested (which bloggers should be! I do love Pinterest, by the way, but the points Amy makes are very valid!). Anyhoo, her post about Pinterest led me to search out Amanda’s heart cake tutorial, and her site, and I just love it when I find new sites to explore.

Anyhow, I hope you all are having a wonderful Valentine’s Day, and spending it with someone special. Me? I’m spending it with this little guy right here:

Okay, so I’ve been a little OBSESSED with coconut recently. I blame work. We just got a new ice cream vendor, and they have these all natural fruit bars by La Michoacana, and one of them is coconut. And it is amazing. Super creamy, lightly sweet, and lots of coconut bits.

I currently don’t have the luxury to hunt these down at a retail outlet, and I had all this coconut milk in my pantry (I have no idea, why, by the way), so I thought… WHY NOT MAKE MY OWN COCONUT ICE CREAM???

I don’t have a ice cream maker, though, but I remember back in middle school, making vanilla ice cream in a bag, along with root beer. Awesome chemistry learnin’ FTW!

So, here’s the recipe I used to make the ice cream (courtesy of David Lebovitz):

(The original recipe also calls for saffron threads, but I don’t have any, and I was looking for a specific flavour, so I omitted it. I also used white sugar.)

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring all the ingredients to a boil.

2. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and chill the mixture thoroughly.

3. Once chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

As I mentioned before, I don’t have an ice cream machine, or hand-churner, but thankfully, David Lebovitz has some directions for making ice cream the low-tech way (not even any rock salt or bags are involved) !

Here’s another recipe for coconut ice cream which is custard-based that sounds yummy!

The ice cream I made turned out really well! It tastes JUST like the bars we have at work. Maybe not quite as rich, but the flavour is there. The only issue I had was with the texture – I started it a bit late, and since I was doing it the low-tech way, I wasn’t able to stay up as late as I would have needed to keep stirring it every half hour. So it’s a bit stiff, but still very tasty! :)

Here are some pics:

Coconut ice cream!

Paired with chocolate ice cream!

Also, I bought some jumbo shrimp, and I fully intend to make use of this Weight Watchers coconut shrimp recipe:

2. Whisk together the milk and flour in a large bowl. Add the shrimp; toss to coat.

3. Place the coconut and cornflake crumbs in a large zip-close plastic bag. Add the shrimp, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat. Place the shrimp in the jelly-roll pan in one layer. Lightly spray with nonstick spray. Bake until the shrimp are golden on the outside and opaque in the center, about 5 minutes on each side. Yields 3 shrimp per serving.

I hope to try that recipe in a few days. Tomorrow, a friend I haven’t seen in ages is coming over, and I’m making herb-almond crusted halibut! So I’ll share that once I’ve had a chance to try it.

And now I leave you with the scene from “The Lion King” that I’ve had stuck in my head for days:

Last night, my friend Jenn Bentz came over and took some amzing pictures of my greeting cards! And so, late last night, I uploaded a few cards to Etsy!, and my Etsy store is now officially open! RIght now, I only have Valentine’s Day cards available, but I’m hoping to add a few others tonight.

Okay, so this post is about a week over-due, but real life decided to butt-in, so I apologize.

My Big Shot die-cutting and embossing system came in! (pics below) I’ve named it “Rolly Thingy”. It made more sense to my non-crafty friends when I described it that way. lol.

Anyhow, because I bought it from Stampin Up! during their Sale-a-bration promotion, I also got two free items, so I got a couple of embossing folders to go with my new toy (what’s the point of buying it when you can’t use it right away?) and some buttons, which I am still thinking about how I will use. lol.

Anyhow, here are some pics I took with my phone when he arrived:

Out of the box, after I put on the handle!

Without the platform.

On my messy craft table. lol.

the embossing folders and buttons.

a closer look.

I am very excited to finally have this tool at my disposal. I’ve been eying it for more than a year, and I can’t wait to build up the die-cuts and embossing folders to use with this. I really think it’s going to help me take my card making and paper crafts to another level. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make an impact. :)

In related news, I have a friend coming over tomorrow to help me take top-notch photos of my existing card stock so I can start selling them on Etsy! I am very excited about this venture, so keep a look out…I’ll be posting as soon as it’s ready to go; hopefully sometime this weekend. There will be a few Valentine’s cards, and birthday cards, and eventually all kinds of cards for all sorts of occasions as I build my library of tools beyond the Christmas-themed. :)